Linda Ludemann

Linda Ludemann raced in IMSA between 1987 and 1990, alongside Scott Schubot. She is the first recorded female winner of an IMSA title, having won the Lights class in 1989, but she is more widely known due to the 1989 “Linda Ludemann rule” which allowed a second driver in IMSA races to take a very limited role in order to get round the compulsory pitstops.

She and Scott Schubot, who was her boyfriend as well as her team-mate, competed in the Lights class in 1987, under the “S&L Racing” banner.  Both had earned their racing licenses a couple of years previously and this was their first major championship together. Initially, they drove a Tiga GT285, with a best finish of eighth at Watkins Glen. They were also 16th at Daytona, with Jim Brown. For the shorter races, normally three-hour events, they usually drove together, but Schubot sometimes drove alone.

The car was changed for a Spice SE88P in 1988, which was less reliable, and gave them a highest position of 15th, at the San Antonio street circuit and Lime Rock. 

The rule changes that brought in the “Linda Ludemann Rule” happened in time for the 1989 season. Prior to then, most IMSA races could be completed safely by a solo driver, although many teams depended on a paying amateur co-driver to cover their costs. In order to appease the teams and remove the single-driver advantage, a driver change became compulsory.

The rules stated that the second driver only had to cover a minimum of two laps and did not specify that these laps had to be during a green-flag period. 

Linda was never regarded as a slow or unskilled driver, but she was not as fast as Schubot. In newspaper interviews of the time, she admits to being a couple of seconds per lap slower around the track and often claims that she is not quite aggressive enough when passing. 

In a 1987 interview with the Fort Lauderdale News, she describes her role in the team as “to bring the car back safe and sound. Scott’s job is to drive as hard as he can. He’s just more aggressive. I’ve had to work awfully hard to learn to be aggressive.”

Even so, in the same interview, she talks of having to show her partner how to downshift correctly with a manual gearbox, something she had learned working as pit crew for her father.

Her peers were often more complimentary. Writing in 2015, Marshall Pruett said he was “semi-confident” that she and Schubot could have won without “playing games”. The same article quotes IMSA’s chief steward at the time, Marty Kaufman, calling Linda “a good shoe.”

In order to maximise his time in the car, their driver changes would generally happen during a caution period, during which Linda would jump in, complete a few token laps and then hand the car back to her boyfriend when the flag went green.

Reliability improved in 1989, and Linda became the first woman to win the Lights class, after victories at West Palm Beach, San Antonio, Topeka and Sears Point. The team were also top-ten finishers three times, with a high point of sixth. 

Linda only did a part-season in 1990, still in the Spice, but proved she was still competitive with an eighth at Miami and a class win at Topeka. Her season was affected by a fire during qualifying at Sebring, which destroyed their car. Linda initially found a seat in another SE88 run by Essex Racing, but did not start the race.

As well as sportscars, she occasionally raced single-seaters, becoming the first woman to race a Barber Saab in 1989. Early in her career, both she and Schubot raced Formula Fords and Linda did at least one season in Sports 2000. 

She did not compete in 1991. Schubot switched his attention to single-seater racing for several seasons after that and they may have split up.

Away from the track, Linda worked as a florist and owned her own flower shop.

(Image copyright racer.com)

Tomiko Yoshikawa

Tomiko in 1993

Tomiko Yoshikawa raced sportscars in both Europe and Japan in the 1990s, including at Le Mans. She also competed in single-seaters up to Formula 3 level in Japan, from 1980 onwards.

She was born in Nagoya in 1954. Her first involvement with motorsport seems to have been a couple of races in Japanese Formula 3, in 1980. She made another guest appearance in the series in 1981, before committing to a bigger race programme in 1982.

1983 was her best season in Japanese F3. She was tenth overall. In 1984, she scored more points, but was eleventh. Both times, she was driving a Japanese-built Hayashi-Toyota.

It was in about 1985 that she switched to sportscars. Initially, she raced at her home circuit of Fuji, in the Fuji Grand Champion Series. Her car was a BMW-engined MCS 5, run by Maribu Motorsport. She entered three of the four rounds, with a best finish of sixteenth in the opening round, the 300km race in March. In 1986, she entered the first round of the FGC again in the MCS, but did not finish. Unfortunately, she was involved in a multi-car crash on the sixth lap, which brought out a red flag. She does not appear to have raced again for quite a while afterwards. There is little easily accessible information about this accident, although Tomiko may have been injured, causing her absence.

She returned to the circuits in 1988. This year, she drove in her first Suzuka 1000km. Her car was a Hiro HRS3, shared with Kouzou Okumura. They did not finish.

The following year, she did some more endurance racing in the All-Japan Sports Prototype Championship, in the Fuji race this time. She got to the finish in her Group C Mazda 757, but was not classified. Her team-mates were Kazuhiko Oda and Keiichi Mizutani.

After another break in 1990, she returned to the All-Japan Prototype series in a Spice SE90C. This was the start of quite a lengthy associated between Gordon Spice’s team and Tomiko. She narrowly missed out on a Le Mans start with the Euro Racing setup, which was running an all-female Spice team in a pink car. Although her entry was accepted initially, she was prevented from starting due to not having the appropriate license upgrade. Tomiko practised, but Desiré Wilson, Cathy Muller and Lyn St. James were chosen for the race itself. The team’s race ended quite abruptly anyway, in a crash.

Back in Japan, she drove the same car for the Aoshima Tsunemasa team in the Fuji 1000km. She and her team-mates, Hideshi Matsuda and Hideo Fukuyama, did not finish, due to an engine problem.

Tomiko raced at Le Mans three times, in 1992, 1993 and 1994. Her best result was in 1992, when she finished 15th in a Chamberlain Spice SE88C, although she had not driven enough laps for official classification. The all-female team had originally been built around her, and as she did not get to drive in 1991, she was placed in a mixed team for 1992, with Kenta Shimamura and Jun Harada.

In 1993, she had to retire in a Courage C30 after an accident, and in 1994, she was unclassified again, in a Porsche, in 22nd place.

At the same time, she did secure some successes in other events. She was seventh in the 1992 Suzuka 1000km, the second of her thirteen runs in the Japanese classic. Again, she was driving the Chamberlain Spice, and her co-drivers were Divina Galica and Jun Harada.

Chamberlain gave her another drive in the Suzuka 1000km in 1993, in a Lotus Esprit, but she did not finish due to the car overheating. She and her team-mates had qualified eleventh. Earlier in the year, she had raced a Tom Gloy Racing Ford Mustang in the Daytona 24 Hours. This was another mixed team, with Desiré Wilson, Ron Fellows and Peter Baljet. They were classified 47^th, but did not finish.

In 1994, she had a run in the Suzuka 1000km in a Ferrari F40, with Anders Olofsson and Luciano della Noce. They were disqualified for an illegal overtaking manoeuvre.

1995 saw her have a final chance at Le Mans, driving a Toyota-engined SARD MC8-R with Kenny Acheson and Alain Ferté. However, it was not to be. Tomiko did not qualify, and as in 1991, the team did not last long anyway, succumbing to clutch failure after 14 laps. Unfortunately, the Suzuka 1000km went the same way. Tomiko was listed as a driver alongside Fabien Giroix and Jean-Denis Delétraz, but did not make the start. The team also did not finish.

After that, she did not race in Europe again. She continued to make appearances in the Suzuka 1000km, driving for a number of teams, including Roock Racing in 1996 and 1999, in Porsches both times. Other cars she raced included another McLaren F1 (1997) and a Nissan Skyline (2002 and 2003).

Her best result in this race was ninth, which she achieved in 2004, driving a Porsche 996 for the Arktech team. Her team-mates were Shigemitsu Haga and Tamon Saitou.

She retired from motorsport in 2005. Language barriers have prevented more detailed research about Tomiko’s life and career.

(Image from http://www.les24heures.fr/)

Cathy Muller

Cathy in 1985

France's Cathy Muller had a promising start to her racing career. She competed, mainly in single-seaters, between the ages of twelve and 33, and showed that she had the talent to go far.

Her first victory came in the European Karting Championships in 1979. She remained in karting for a further year before switching to cars in 1981, when she raced first a Renault 5 and then a Volant Elf single-seater. After a learning year, she carried on the Renault connection and drove in French Formula Renault. She scored her first win at Le Castellet that season, as well as four podium positions.

Cathy continued to progress up the motorsport ladder rapidly. Moving up to Formula 3 with David Price Racing and Ecurie Elf, she jumped straight into the European championship. Her best result was a fourth place, at Le Chatre, and she also achieved seventh places at Magny-Cours and Zeltweg. She attempted to qualify for the Monaco Grand Prix support race, but could not make it. In November she was eleventh in the Macau Grand Prix race, one of only a handful of women to have ever taken part.

By 1984, she was challenging for wins in Euro F3. Driving first for the Scuderia dei Longobardi team, then MC Racing, she finished the season tenth. Her season had begun well, with a seventh at Donington, and she qualified for the Monaco race this time, finishing in eighth place. Her best championship finish was another fourth, at Knutstorp, but she was comfortably in sixth or seventh for most of her races. Her best finish of the year was due to a guest appearance in the French championship, at Albi, where she won.

She also had her first taste of major sportscar racing, driving a BMW-powered Gebhart JC843 at Sandown Park in Australia. Her team-mates were Margie Smith-Haas and Sue Ransom.

At that time, the British F3 championship was the place to be for aspiring stars, so she decamped to England for a year to drive for David Price Racing in 1985. Although she did not achieve any top-three places, she was still ninth overall. Among her results, which are hard to find, she was seventh at Zolder, ninth at Spa and did not finish at Zandvoort. A trip to the Monaco F3 race ended in another DNF.

Feeling she had learned enough from F3, Cathy climbed the next rung in 1986 and moved into Formula 3000, the last step before Formula One. However, the swift hike in budgetary requirements hit her hard. She could only muster the funds for a part-season with three different teams, with no testing. In her first race at Spa, she came 17th. She was also 17th at Mugello and Le Mans, retired at Imola and failed to qualify for the other four races she entered.

Perhaps disheartened by her experiences, she went back to Formula 3 the following year. Back with MC Motorsport in the French championship, she started her season with a tenth at Nogaro. It took her a while to get back up to her usual pace, having missed out on a lot of racing in 1986, but towards the end of the season, she was back in the top five. Her best finish was fourth, at the Le Mans Bugatti circuit, and she was fifth twice, at Nogaro and Lédenon. 

Cathy also entered one race in Germany, and drove a Porsche 962C in a round of the World Sports Prototype Championship at the Nürburgring 1000km. She, Bernard de Dryver and Jurgen Lassig were seventh.

She had another stab at F3000 in 1988, resulting in a DNQ at Jerez. It was time for a different challenge now, so she went to America and drove in single-seaters there for two seasons, as well as competing once more in French F3. She entered nine Indy Lights races between 1989 and 1990 and four of these ended in top-ten finishes. The best of these were two fifth places at Meadowlands and Toronto in 1990.

This led to a drive at Le Mans in 1991. She shared a Spice Ford with Desiré Wilson and Lyn St James, but the team crashed out early on. She also tried ice-racing, in the Andros Trophy.

After a season's break, Cathy entered the Peugeot 905 Spider Cup in 1993. This was a popular one-make sportscar series in France. In her first season she was fifth, but in her second, she was the runner-up, winning three times.

Remaining with sportscars, Cathy took part in the Ferrari Challenge in 1995 and continued her winning streak. She finished the season in second. It was on this high that she decided to retire from racing and start a family.

Motorsport was not forgotten completely: in 1998, she tested a Ferrari for her old team, to still whether she could still handle it as a mother. It turned out that she could, but after over 20 years, Cathy did not wish to race any more. She was now content managing her own team, and acting as her brother Yvan Muller's manager.

In 2010, she made a partial return, taking on two guest races in the SEAT Leon Supercopa, at Magny-Cours. She was fourteenth and fifteenth. In 2011, she also ran in two rounds of the Andros Electric Trophy, at the Pau event. She was eighth in one race, and did not finish the other.

She is now involved in motorsport management once more, for a WTCC team. She is also a member of the FIA's Women in Motorsport Commission, working as a talent scout.